1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic systems, and more particularly, power distribution in electronic systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The increasing ability to provide integrate more circuits on an integrated circuit (IC) die has resulted in much great processing power for devices such as microprocessors, digital signal processors, and other types of IC's. The greater processing power requires, in turn, higher pin counts and greater power requirements. Since there is a trend towards lower voltages, the increased processing power results in higher current requirements.
Many types of modern packaged integrated circuits, such as processors, ASIC's, multi-chip modules, and so forth, require large amounts of current into and out of their respective packages during operation. Current requirements of 200-300 amperes are not uncommon. These high current requirements can pose significant challenges in providing the required conductive paths for power and ground. More particularly, it is difficult to distribute these amounts of current laterally through power and ground planes in a traditional printed circuit board. A printed circuit board (PCB) capable of carrying such large amounts of current requires several thick, heavy layers of copper or other suitably conductive material. The use of these heavy conductive layers can cause difficulty in drilling holes through the PCB (e.g., for plated through holes). Complications in signal routing can also arise, and the thermal characteristics of such a PCB can also make soldering components more difficult.